


Not the End

by mithrel



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Afterlife, Blanket Permission, Children of Earth Fix-It, M/M, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-27
Updated: 2009-07-26
Packaged: 2017-10-30 02:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/326583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack tries to find some closure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ashes to Ashes

Jack went to the funeral, after it was all over and they’d stopped the 456.

Normally there weren’t funerals for Torchwood operatives, only memorial services. But they’d lost the vaults, so they’d let the authorities give Ianto’s body back to his sister.

Gwen was with him, standing close enough for support, but far enough away to give him space.

The minister was giving the sermon. “And he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Unto Almighty God we commend the soul of our brother departed, and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Jack almost laughed at the way they were deluding themselves. Eternal life. There was nothing after death. He knew that, both from talking to people who had died and from dying himself. There would be no reunion at the end of it all, even if he could die. Ianto was gone.

As Ianto’s sister got up and began talking about her brother, Jack realised that the man she was talking about wasn’t the Ianto he’d known.

Not the Ianto who’d stubborned his way into a job with Torchwood.

Not the Ianto who’d survived the horrors he’d seen in Brynblaidd, even though he wasn’t a field agent and wasn’t used to seeing those things.

Not the Ianto who’d gotten him out of the concrete tomb, and forced him to stand up to the 456, signing his own death warrant in the process.

Not the Ianto he’d fallen in love with.

When it was over, he stood by the grave, saying goodbye even though he knew it was pointless, that Ianto was already gone.

“I won’t forget you. Not in a thousand years. Not in a hundred thousand. I love you.”


	2. I'll Be Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Afterlife fix!it fic.

Jack looked around. He was in the Hub, looking like it had before. But…the Hub had been destroyed, hadn’t it? So long ago…

He looked down at himself. He was human again, looking like he did in the twenty-first century, complete with the coat.

What the hell?

“Hello, Jack.”

He whirled around at the soft voice, a voice he’d know anywhere even after all this time, and saw Ianto…something that _looked_ like Ianto…standing behind him, looking as impeccable as always, smiling slightly.

“Ianto?”

The figure nodded. “It’s me.”

“But you’re dead!”

“I am.”

“I’m hallucinating.” He’d gone mad from being stuck in a jar so long, and he was hallucinating. The only explanation.

“No you’re not.”

“But you’re _dead!_ That’s _it!_ The end, only this and nothing more!”

Ianto shook his head. “That’s not true.”

“Yes it is! I’ve _been_ dead, I _talked_ to people who’ve been dead, there’s nothing!”

Ianto shook his head. “When you were dead, you weren’t, really. Your mind, your soul went…somewhere else, limbo I suppose. And the people you talked to were all shot.”

“So?”

“That’s a quick, violent death. You go right from alive to dead with no in-between.”

“What does that matter?” Why was he arguing with him? This was Ianto standing here. But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.

“Most of the near-death experiences, with the light, the out-of-body experiences, everything, all happen with a slow death, like people who die on the operating table and then are resuscitated. That’s the preliminary, and the brain can translate it into something people can cope with.”

“And after?”

“The human brain wasn’t meant to cope with this, so they just…don’t remember.”

“But this is the Hub.”

Ianto nodded. “It’s the place where you felt most at home, so that’s what this is for you.”

“‘This’?” He would have expected the TARDIS, or the Boeshane Peninsula if he was shaping his afterlife. Then again, he hadn’t spent much time on the TARDIS, and he was young so long ago he’d almost forgotten what his home looked like.

Ianto shrugged. “Heaven, Elysium, Valhalla, call it what you will.”

“But I’m not dead!”

“You are. Don’t you remember? It took a long time, but whatever was animating you was finally exhausted.”

Jack did remember. New Earth, the virus, the Motorway. Seeing the Doctor again.

“I’m dead.”

Ianto nodded.

“And…that’s really you?” He wanted to believe, so badly, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t.

Ianto moved over and hugged him, and he was solid and real, smelling of coffee and aftershave.

Jack buried his face in his shoulder and cried.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright.”

“I love you!” he choked out.

“I know.”

“I should have said it before, I’m sorry!”

“It’s alright.”

Jack pulled back and looked into Ianto’s eyes and saw that it really was alright. 

He kissed Ianto, desperately, and held him as if afraid he’d vanish again.

“I’ll be here, don’t worry. I won’t leave you."


End file.
